


Marriage with the Right Hand

by BadassIndustries



Series: Dancing Through Life [10]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Complete Gender Equality, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Regency, No Period Typical Homophobia, Nonbinary Jehan, Nonbinary parent, Other, Written for Jehanparnasse Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21548953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadassIndustries/pseuds/BadassIndustries
Summary: Jehan Prouvaire and Montparnasse are engaged. Their parents have the delight of seeing their darling children run away from their own engagement party.Written for Jehanparnasse week 2019
Relationships: Montparnasse/Jean Prouvaire
Series: Dancing Through Life [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/911544
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Marriage with the Right Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sunfreckle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunfreckle/gifts).



An engagement dinner is an occasion for most to glory in their good fortune and bettered connections. Some lucky few glory in love and happiness. For Laurent Prouvaire it was both, of course, but either of those feelings were overshadowed by the delight he felt in seeing his child so appropriately dressed. He was already inclined to like his new son-in-law for his elegance and the way his heart was obviously moulded to Jehan’s irrevocably, but Montparnasse’s ability to gift Jehan nicely matched waistcoats which Jehan actually likes wearing endeared him completely to his new parent-in-law. The Baronet had been harder to win over, but since her friends were not half so well connected or so imperiously elegant as Montparnasse’s mother, she had quickly changed course. Montparnasse was important to the happiness of the treasures of her life, therefore anyone who dared to remark on the history of Montparnasse or Eliane were served with sharp and immediate reproach. Laurent found he liked Eliane Parnasse very much. She was the most stunning woman he had ever seen and used that as a challenge to everyone she met with. Better still, she was incredibly skilled at bon mots and set-downs and being at her side physically and on her side metaphorically was one of the most entertaining thing Laurent ever had the pleasure to witness. Eliane in silk had the air of Cleopatra and the instincts of Brutus. He was thinking of inviting her to stay the rest of the season.

~*~

Eliane Parnasse presided over the tea things with regal composure. Though by no means the finest house she had been entertained in, the Prouvaire house was pleasantly appointed and comfortable. Her Montparnasse had chosen well, even if he could have made a far more brilliant match. The heart wants what it desires and Eliane had been pleasantly surprised by her reception by the Baronet and her spouse. Little Jehan was dreamy and idealistic, but their parents where just as friendly. More so, in the Baronet’s case. Not since her original coming out had Eliane endured so many pointed introductions. She was used to being shown off, but not quite in this manner. Laurent Prouvaire too, had been very kind, but in a much more bearable manner. He was good looking and proud of it and Eliane had never met any person so fond of seeing a setdown while personally so inclined to stay away from society. He seemed to have found a new vocation in introducing Eliane to particularly those persons who would be most impressed or quelled by her and observing the result. Society here in the country was of course much more confined that that of the capital or the great houses to which Eliane has been accustomed, but the neighbourhood was friendly and welcoming enough. There were even one or two persons who Eliane could call accomplished. One such had been making herself agreeable to Elian for the past half hour. Captain Crawford was a decorated soldier and a pleasant flirt, aside from being very handsome. Quite a pleasant way to spend an evening and a good distraction form the sight of her son sneaking away from his own party to cozen up to his fiancé. Eliane was sure she had taught him better than to leave his own celebration so early, but then again, she had also taught him never to accept a proposal without delicately inquiring as to settlements and yet here they were. At least now she will not have to worry about him wasting all that beauty and talent. It will be well spent, keeping Jehan Prouvaire ecstatically happy and away from any puce ribbons. A happy future indeed.

~*~

“Do you think they noticed?” asked Jehan breathlessly, pulling Montparnasse further into the dark rose garden. Their running escape had brought a blush to Jehan’s cheek and Montparnasse had to press a kiss to the red before he could answer.

“I don’t think so,” he replied, smoothing his hand down Jehan’s nicely matched waistcoat, “They are far too busy rearranging the fabric of society to mind us.”

Jehan giggled.

“Mother has never had a better excuse to crusade against her neighbours. I think she’s enjoying herself.”

They sank down on a stone bench and pulled Montparnasse with them. Montparnasse took the opportunity to brush the stray locks away from Jehan’s face. “It went well though, did it not?” they ask, pushing into the gesture. Montparnasse let himself give into the temptation to kiss the blush on Jehan’s cheeks once more. He cupped Jehan’s face in his hands gently. Looking into their sparkling eyes he said with unusual honesty, “it went better than I could have ever imagined.”

He had never thought he could be so easily accepted. He had been raised for a brilliant social career, not marriage. And yet here he was, escaping the scene of his mother’s triumph, with Jehan looking up at him with loving admiration.

Jehan’s friends were eclectic but welcoming and their parents seemed to have accepted Montparnasse and his mother without question. It was more than he could have ever hoped for. _Jehan_ was more than he could have hoped for.

Jehan darted up, quick as a bird, to kiss Montparnasse. Montparnasse could not stop his smile from forming.

“What was that for?” he asked.

“I wanted to,” smiled Jehan, “and I am happy. Our parents are getting along, you look beautiful and your mother gave me some very good advice.”

Montparnasse paled.

“What kind of advice? If it had anything to do with cheap baubles in expensive boxes—”

“It was mostly concerning how one goes about creating marital felicity,” assured Jehan him, “and a little bit about discerning real sapphires from paste, but mostly about being a good spouse.”

Montparnasse smirked. “I’m sure there is nothing we could do that would make our happiness grow more than to follow the examples of married life which my mother has given me ample opportunity to observe.”

In case Jehan could possibly suspect him of sincerity, he elaborated.

“The example of the Colonel, would be a good place to start, I think. A good marriage is made stronger by thriftiness and what could be more thrifty than only bespeaking one diamond necklace and gifting it to both your spouse and the lady you are wooing?”

He gaged Jehan’s reaction carefully. Jehan hadn’t lived the kind of life Montparnasse had known. These things would probably be outrageous to him. But Jehan was giggling.

“Perhaps,” they said with a cheeky smile, “we had better follow the example of my mother’s friend Mr F—, who maintains marital bliss by endeavouring to never be in the same neighbourhood as his husband?”

“Oh no!” said Montparnasse in mock outrage, “the only true example for us would be beautiful Lady M, who virtuously rid herself of her waste of a spendthrift husband and is now the chaperone and companion of both her lovers. She gets paid for the privilege too, what better marriage could one possibly invent?”

“Ours, I think,” said Jehan solemnly.

“Well yes of course,” said Montparnasse with bluster he did not feel, “we have had lifetimes of examples both good and bad and naturally anything we attempt could only be vastly superior.”

“Exactly so,” said Jehan with complete certainty and took him by the hand. They gave him a kiss that banished the cold of the night’s air and pulled him back towards the house. Inside, their family was waiting for them, cosy, warm and newly grown.

**Author's Note:**

> So there's this storyline closed too! Eliane Parnasse was inspired by Harriet Wilson, a famous Regency courtisan whose memoires I have been reading. If you like the Regency era, give it a read, she writes incredibly sharply and people like Beau Brummel and Wellington appeared at her parties frequently.
> 
> Let me know what you thought and as always Thanks for Reading!


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